274 



Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W 



[April 3, 1920. 



and after a series of years the infested wood is simply reduced to a mass of 

 wood dust, held together by an outer tliin skin of wood perforated with fine 

 holes. The larvae of these beetles may be found in the timber in any part of 

 a house where unseasoned wood (or sapwood) has been worked up in both 

 soft or hard woods. 



It is not uncommon to find them in furniture, and they, frequently feed on 

 the rattan and cane chairs, &c., imported from the East, reinfesting it for 

 years until the whole structure is reduced to a shell, and finally falls to pieces. 



A Voracious Pest. 

 WTien sapwood has been used in making furniture, the entire piece is 

 stained and varnished to a uniform tint, but on turning it upside down, 

 one may often find the band of light-coloured sapwood riddled with fine 



pinholes, caused by the presence 

 of these beetles. Large numbers 

 of the wooden handles of picks, 

 hammers, and axes are often 

 found by storekeepers to be 

 wasting away to dust, being 

 often so far gone that there is 

 nothing to be done but to remove 

 and burn them. 



In most cases the adult beetles 

 die when they emerge from the 

 infested wood, but they have 

 sometimes been found boring 

 into new timber upon which 

 they have flown or fallen. Borers 

 were discovered at the great hall 

 of the Fisher Library at the 

 Sydney University soon after it 

 was finished, and some fell ontlie 

 varnished reading-desks below 

 and bored their wa .- into them. 

 In this instance the powder-post beetles died out without doing any serious 

 damage. In a large bonded store in Sydney, where the large beams under 

 the floor were rounded joists, the outer sapwood began to fall away in 

 flakes, and the owners found the beetles on the floors. When, at' our 

 suggestion, the sapwood was adzed away, and the rest treated with crude 

 oil, tlie damage did not extend into the remaining timber. 



Uimmiiiiiinii. 



The Powder-post Beetle (Lycttis bmnnetis). 

 Also some damaged woodwork. 



Range and Description of the Beetle. 

 Among the members of the genus Lyctus that have been recorded as 

 powder-post beetles, Lyctus unipunctatus is stated to be the most common 

 and destructive species in the United States. Lyctus striatus, another North 



